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    <title><![CDATA[Ontwikkelingsorganisatie Hivos]]>: <![CDATA[Hivos Knowledge Programme]]></title>
    <link>http://www.hivos.net</link>
    <description>Welcome to the website of the Hivos Knowledge Programme. The platform for knowledge development on issues imperative to the global development sector. The main themes are: Civil Society Building, Promoting Pluralism, Civil Society in West Asia, Small Producer Agency in the Globalized Market and Digital Natives with a Cause?</description>
    <language>eng-GB</language>
    
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			<title><![CDATA[Regional Perspectives on the ‘Dignity Revolutions ]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Themes/Civil-Society-in-West-Asia/Publications/Policy-Papers/Regional-Perspectives-on-the-Dignity-Revolutions</link>
			<description><![CDATA[This policy paper provides unique perspectives from Middle Eastern &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;activists who are part of popular protests across the region. The &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;recommendations are based on their perspectives and addressed to the EU &amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;at large European Commission, the Dutch government and &amp;nbsp;Non-Governmental &amp;nbsp;Organisations in order for them to best support the &amp;nbsp;democratic &amp;nbsp;transitions in the region.These perspectives were the subject of lively and inspiring debates at a seminar at the University in Amsterdam on April 18th, 2011 and advocacy meetings on April 19th and 20th, 2011 &amp;nbsp;with Dutch and European policy makers in the Hague and Brussels &amp;nbsp;respectively. At the seminar activists from Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Iraq, &amp;nbsp;Morocco and Syria discussed with Dutch academics and practitioners from &amp;nbsp;and outside the Knowledge Programme Civil Society in West Asia. The &amp;nbsp;idea for organising this seminar surfaced during internal discussions on &amp;nbsp;the Arab Spring within the Knowledge Programme Civil Society in West &amp;nbsp;Asia. Ever since the eruption of popular protests, we have been &amp;nbsp;witnessing an avalanche of analyses from ‘experts’ in the Western media &amp;nbsp;on the roots of revolutions in the region. However, largely lacking were &amp;nbsp;the perspectives of people who were the key drivers of these protests. &amp;nbsp;For this reason we organised the seminar and advocacy meetings, and we &amp;nbsp;produced this policy paper.The paper does not and indeed cannot &amp;nbsp;present the perspectives of all activists involved in the popular &amp;nbsp;protests. But it certainly presents the key conclusions and &amp;nbsp;recommendations of the seminar and subsequent advocacy meetings, and &amp;nbsp;therefore provides a platform for these activists to share their &amp;nbsp;stories, perspectives and recommendations with policy makers, academics &amp;nbsp;and activists in the Netherlands and the European Union. In this way we &amp;nbsp;aim to make a modest contribution to the global debate on the Arab &amp;nbsp;Spring and hope to assist activists, academics and policy makers in the &amp;nbsp;region and beyond to better comprehend the complexity of transformative &amp;nbsp;changes that re-configure the political landscape of the Middle East.Accordingly, &amp;nbsp;I will pay attention to the conceptualization debate, i.e. how do we &amp;nbsp;make sense of Arab Spring. The second part will address the role of new &amp;nbsp;social media in this spring. Thereafter, I will reflect on the collapse &amp;nbsp;and/or sustenance of several ‘fear factors’, before going into the &amp;nbsp;relation between economic development and democratisation. Finally the &amp;nbsp;conclusions and recommendation of the activists will be presented.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;This is Policy Paper 3 of the Knowledge Programme Civil Society in West Asia by Kawa Hassan]]></description>
			<pubDate>Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:40:24 +0100</pubDate>                                                           
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			<title><![CDATA[Exporting Censorship and Surveillance Technology]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Themes/Digital-Natives-with-a-Cause/Publications/Exporting-Censorship-and-Surveillance-Technology</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Western companies turn a healthy profit by exporting their surveillance technologies and equipment to repressive regimes. This is what Ben Wagner concludes in the Hivos-commissioned report “Exporting Censorship and Surveillance Technology”.Wagner interviewed dozens of people from Europe and North Africa and found that governments there have relied heavily on Western censorship technologies in an attempt to quell the civil unrest during the Arab Spring. Earlier reports had already established that reputable companies such as Noka Siemens and Sony Ericsson have in the past provided these tools of oppression to the governments of Iran and Belarus respectively.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:22:13 +0100</pubDate>                                                           
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			<title><![CDATA[Like a Bridge over Troubled Waters]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Publications/Pubs/Like-a-Bridge-over-Troubled-Waters</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In the Think Piece LIKE A BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATERS: Dialogues of policy, practitioner and academic knowledges&amp;nbsp;the author Wenny Ho deals with Cross-domain Knowledge Integration (KI) in International Development Cooperation (IDC). KI is understood as processes of knowledge co-creation linking domains particularly those of policy-making, science and practitioners.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:37:51 +0100</pubDate>                                                           
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			<title><![CDATA['Power, Knowledge and Pluralism' with Robert Chambers (IDS)]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Events/Power-Knowledge-and-Pluralism-with-Robert-Chambers-IDS</link>
			<description><![CDATA[On Monday January 23, Robert Chambers, world renowned international &amp;nbsp;development scholar and research associate at IDS, discusses how power, professionalism, funding, methodologies and mindsets, influence and can distort and constrain the creation of knowledge.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Wed, 11 Jan 2012 11:14:11 +0100</pubDate>                                                           
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			<title><![CDATA[Unpacking Digital Natives from their Shiny Packaging]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Themes/Digital-Natives-with-a-Cause/News/Unpacking-Digital-Natives-from-their-Shiny-Packaging</link>
			<description><![CDATA[
In this article, the writer supports that China, despite having a plethora of hacker talents, does not conform to the typical paradigm of liberal, usually anti-government, group of digital natives. She explains that the so-called “red hackers” are working hand-in-hand with the dominant ideology, fighting against the enemy abroad while hunting down the enemy within who disrupts the ‘harmony’ (of the nation). Focusing on China’s digital culture, Tsou demonstrates that digital natives, despite what is commonly thought of them as a universal group, can also engage in far from civic-minded activities. The stories of Human Flesh Search as described in the article, gives flesh to this argument.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;  ]]></description>
			<pubDate>Thu, 22 Dec 2011 09:41:31 +0100</pubDate>                                                           
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			<title><![CDATA[Beyond Philanthropy]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Publications/Pubs/Beyond-Philanthropy</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In 2007, Hivos, an international non-governmental organisation inspired by humanist values, formed a partnership with Logica, a global IT company, and the Mamidipudi Venkatarangaiua Foundation (MVF), an Indian organisation working to abolish child labour. This NGO–business partnership, lasting four years, engaged highly skilled Logica consultants from the Netherlands and India to work with MVF to develop a management information system (MIS) and child monitoring system (CMS). This partnership has contributed to the improvement of the quality of life of Indian children who have been abused and exploited.In this case study we share the journey and experiences of this NGO–business partnership: from the rationale for engagement, field experiences and challenges, to issues of scale and sustainability. We believe that documenting and sharing the experiences of this partnership is valuable for all individuals and organisations that are open to considering the merits of NGO–business partnerships in the non-governmental, public, and private sectors.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Thu, 22 Dec 2011 09:39:07 +0100</pubDate>                                                           
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			<title><![CDATA[Impunity, freedom of expression and social justice]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Themes/Civil-Society-Building/News/Impunity-freedom-of-expression-and-social-justice</link>
			<description><![CDATA[There is an apparent low profile war going on against progressive circles in Honduras, and this edition of Envio magazine demands that the international community take notice. It reports on an international expert meeting in which Hivos teamed up with CEJIL, ERIC and Jueces por la Democracia to talk about impunity, freedom of expression and Justice. The goal of the event, held in october 2011, was to support Honduran human rights activism with reflextions and lessons from neighbouring countries.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Tue, 20 Dec 2011 21:46:05 +0100</pubDate>                                                           
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			<title><![CDATA[On Natives, Norms and Knowledge ]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Themes/Digital-Natives-with-a-Cause/News/On-Natives-Norms-and-Knowledge</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Using digital technologies has become so convenient that with the rise of the so called digital revolution arose also the need to reflect it. A very impressive compilation of reflections dealing with the role and impact of the “user” (or digital native, as it is now called) comes in the form of a four book collective called Digital AlterNatives with a Cause? by the Centre for Internet &amp;amp; Society and Hivos. The fourth book features Ben Wagner’s essay Natives, Norms and Knowledge: How Information and Communications Technologies Recalibrate Social and Political Power Relations. It is a text I strongly recommend, especially to those interested in the reasons behind contemporary policies that try to regulate digital activism such as the US SOPA Act.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:14:31 +0100</pubDate>                                                           
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			<title><![CDATA[Digital Native: Twin Manifestations or Co-Located Hybrids ]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Themes/Digital-Natives-with-a-Cause/News/Digital-Native-Twin-Manifestations-or-Co-Located-Hybrids</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Ben-David’s piece is a well-articulated and informed attempt to resolve two of the several conceptual fuzziness of the term “Digital Native”. She attempts this in a philosophical manner: trying to move away from the ontological “who are Digital Natives?” to an epistemological “when and where are Digital Natives?” Her reasoning is that this perceptive change will allow us to unpack the duplicity of a hybrid term and to understand if it refers to a unique phenomenon in the world worth exploring.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:13:08 +0100</pubDate>                                                           
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			<title><![CDATA[Digital AlterNatives Video Contest ]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Themes/Digital-Natives-with-a-Cause/News/Digital-AlterNatives-Video-Contest</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The Centre for Internet and Society and Hivos are pleased to announce the Digital AlterNatives video contest. There are hundreds of stories of the Everyday Digital Native - people who are always connected, or on the fringes, or groups that bond over causes but don’t really care for the ‘Digital Native’ tag &amp;amp; hype. Tell us their story through your video! Deadline for your proposals is the 8th of January 2012.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:12:09 +0100</pubDate>                                                           
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			<title><![CDATA[From Facebook revolution to surveillance technology]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Themes/Digital-Natives-with-a-Cause/News/From-Facebook-revolution-to-surveillance-technology</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In the beginning of 2011 the Arab Spring took the world by surprise. Around the world people were confronted and inspired by millions of brave citizens who stood up, ousted two dictators and demanded democratic reforms. (Inter) nationally technology like Twitter and Facebook have been praised for these web 2.0 revolutions. While the Facebook revolution discourse has been much debated, the flip side to the technology coin has been ignored.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Mon, 12 Dec 2011 12:05:59 +0100</pubDate>                                                           
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			<title><![CDATA[Small, competitive and resilient - How small-scale producers contribute to food security]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Themes/Small-Producer-Agency/News/Small-competitive-and-resilient-How-small-scale-producers-contribute-to-food-security</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Food insecurity threatens almost one billion people, especially in rural areas in developing countries, where four out of five people go hungry every day. Scientists estimate that the world’s population will grow to 9.1 billion by 2050. Since natural resources are already dangerously degraded, fossil fuels are becoming scarce, and climate change has become an impending reality, this poses a serious challenge. To nourish the growing population and meet the challenges of climate change, it is necessary that the unused potential of small-scale producers – who already today provide an impressive 70 percent of the world’s food – is unleashed.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Mon, 05 Dec 2011 15:22:34 +0100</pubDate>                                                           
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			<title><![CDATA[Civic Driven change:Bringing Politics back in ]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Themes/The-Changing-Face-of-Citizen-Action/News/Civic-Driven-change-Bringing-Politics-back-in</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Politics is central to development discourse, yet remains peripheral. &amp;nbsp;And, over some twenty years, a civil society narrative has not fulfilled &amp;nbsp;its potential to ‘bring politics back in’. Reasons can be found in &amp;nbsp;conceptual confusion, in selectivity in donor thinking and policies &amp;nbsp;towards civil society and in the growth-driven political economy of &amp;nbsp;NGO-ism.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Fri, 02 Dec 2011 14:23:48 +0100</pubDate>                                                           
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			<title><![CDATA[KP policy paper on the ‘Dignity Revolutions’ recommended by BNR News Radio as a reading material ]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Themes/Civil-Society-in-West-Asia/Latest-News/KP-policy-paper-on-the-Dignity-Revolutions-recommended-by-BNR-News-Radio-as-a-reading-material</link>
			<description><![CDATA[At a programme of the Dutch radio channel BNR News Radio on Wednesday 23 November, the latest policy paper of KP Civil Society in West Asia entitled Regional Perspectives on the 'Dignity Revolutions': How Middle Eastern Activists Perceive Popular Protest was recommended as a reading material. This policy paper provides the perspectives of political and social actors who are the foot soldiers of the ‘Dignity Revolutions’. Please click the link of the programme below (in Dutch). &amp;nbsp;]]></description>
			<pubDate>Thu, 24 Nov 2011 11:25:05 +0100</pubDate>                                                           
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			<title><![CDATA[BlueCoat: US technology surveilling Syrian citizens online ]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Themes/Civil-Society-in-West-Asia/Latest-News/BlueCoat-US-technology-surveilling-Syrian-citizens-online</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In the context of repression in the Middle East and North Africa, &amp;nbsp;surveillance technology has played a key role in providing authoritarian &amp;nbsp;regimes with the tools necessary to track citizens online. Among these &amp;nbsp;companies, BlueCoat has proved to be the most efficient in helping the Syrian regime control every movement of Syrians on the Internet.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Mon, 21 Nov 2011 16:15:54 +0100</pubDate>                                                           
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			<title><![CDATA[Regional Perspectives on the ‘Dignity Revolutions ]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Themes/Civil-Society-in-West-Asia/Latest-News/Regional-Perspectives-on-the-Dignity-Revolutions</link>
			<description><![CDATA[This policy paper provides unique perspectives from Middle Eastern &amp;nbsp;activists who are part of popular protests across the region. The &amp;nbsp;recommendations are based on their perspectives and addressed to the EU &amp;nbsp;at large European Commission, the Dutch government and Non-Governmental &amp;nbsp;Organisations in order for them to best support the democratic &amp;nbsp;transitions in the region.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Wed, 16 Nov 2011 12:05:44 +0100</pubDate>                                                           
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			<title><![CDATA[Syria's crisis: A 'war of attrition' and a 'marathon', experts say]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Themes/Civil-Society-in-West-Asia/Latest-News/Syria-s-crisis-A-war-of-attrition-and-a-marathon-experts-say</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Read the interesting article of Ahram Online on the conference Emerging Spheres of Civil Engagement in Syria organised by Hivos, Arab Forum for Alternatives and University of Amsterdam on 24-25 October 2011 in Cairo.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:46:53 +0100</pubDate>                                                           
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			<title><![CDATA[The Syrian Uprising and the Power of Stories]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Themes/Civil-Society-in-West-Asia/Latest-News/The-Syrian-Uprising-and-the-Power-of-Stories</link>
			<description><![CDATA[On &amp;nbsp;a daily basis scores of Syrian activists upload their YouTube footage &amp;nbsp;of protests and the regime’s atrocities, hoping that someone will watch &amp;nbsp;them, become outraged, and act in ways to support the uprising. Given &amp;nbsp;the regime’s information blackout, a lot can be learned from these video &amp;nbsp;snapshots. Yet otherwise the eerie silence from Syria has been deafening. Rarely &amp;nbsp;are Syrian activists given a voice to express their grievances, wishes, &amp;nbsp;desires, aspirations and dilemmas. It is against this background that &amp;nbsp;this newsletter has given the floor to some of such Syrian &amp;nbsp;writer-activists who, despite the high risks involved, continue to publish their commentary in the Arabic-language media. It is in the power of their stories that these Syrian and Arab authors prove themselves to be true revolutionaries.&amp;nbsp;]]></description>
			<pubDate>Mon, 31 Oct 2011 12:12:34 +0100</pubDate>                                                           
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			<title><![CDATA[State, society and nature in Ecuador:  the case of the Yasuní-ITT initiative]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Themes/Civil-Society-Building/Themes/NEBE/News/State-society-and-nature-in-Ecuador-the-case-of-the-Yasuni-ITT-initiative</link>
			<description><![CDATA[This paper critically analyses the emergence and development of the Yasuní-ITT initiative, which is built on the idea of leaving oil underground in exchange for financial contributions from the international community .Development politics in Ecuador has experienced major changes since the &amp;nbsp; election of Correa in 2007.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Fri, 28 Oct 2011 10:47:30 +0200</pubDate>                                                           
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			<title><![CDATA[Participation, planning and natural resources  in Bolivia: from fiction to practice?]]></title>
			<link>http://www.hivos.net/Hivos-Knowledge-Programme/Themes/Civil-Society-Building/Themes/NEBE/News/Participation-planning-and-natural-resources-in-Bolivia-from-fiction-to-practice</link>
			<description><![CDATA[In this paper, we focus on participation in the main planning documents produced in Bolivia in the first decade of the 2000s: the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) and the National Development Plan (PND). We analyze how these planning instruments have been able to capture popular participation through diverse mechanisms and how these practices fit in the current mainstream participation discourse. For more knowledge programme publications on participation in development click here. In this paper, special attention is paid to natural resources because of the predominant role they have in the Bolivian economy and because of their substantial contribution to the state budget.]]></description>
			<pubDate>Fri, 28 Oct 2011 10:38:56 +0200</pubDate>                                                           
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